SWIMMER Cindy Ong has not ruled out a return to open category competitive swimming or even the national team, should the opportunity arise, following her strong performances recently.
The 35-year-old enjoyed a successful outing at the World Masters Championships in Gwangju which ended on Sunday.
The butterfly specialist clocked some impressive times en route to winning five gold and two silver in the women’s 35-39 age-group category in South Korea.
The Perak-born won the 50m and 100m butterfly, and the 100m freestyle as well as silver in the 50m breaststroke and 50m freestyle individual events.
Cindy added two more gold in the relay events (4x50m freestyle and medley) for Singapore-based Aquatic Performance Swim Club (APSC) in a team (combined 160-169 age group), that also featured Japan great Hitomi Matsuda, Taiwan's Chia Nei Kuan and Singapore's Kelvin Yew.
The world masters meet is a club-based competition where clubs are allowed to utilise swimmers from any country to represent them, similar to what football clubs do.
Cindy posted 28.68 seconds in the 50m butterfly individual event but clocked an even faster 27.72s for the same discipline during the relay.
The latter time would have placed her just off the podium in fourth in the 50m butterfly final at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur Sea Games. No Malaysian had qualified for the final in the event that year.
The time is also not too far off the current national record of 27.45s set by Marellyn Liew in 2008.
Cindy, who retired from the national team over a decade ago, said making a comeback to open competition or the national team would be a big task but is not ruling out anything for the moment.
The mother of three is currently a full-time private coach based in Mont Kiara.
“Honestly, it (making comeback) has not crossed my mind, though it would certainly be an honour (to be called up),” said Cindy.
“Up until now, I’ve just been focused on my performance at this World Masters Championship.
“I recognise that at this stage in life, any comeback would entail more than just mere training, which was a luxury I had during my competitive years.
“I now have to train while keeping up with my kids’ schooling, their after-school activities and also full-time coaching, all within 24 hours a day.”
Cindy, who does most of her training at her condo’s swimming pool, however, believes she is capable of going even faster.
“I do feel I have some more headroom (to improve) simply because of the fact that I am only training one third or perhaps one half (volume) of what the national team does,” added Cindy.
“I just train in my condo pool, self-coached, without the benefit of lane ropes, lines or flags.
“But I must say that I am fortunate to have the support of the condo’s community and management.”
Cindy is also the younger sister of former national swimmer Allen Ong.